Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have topublish an updated cost benefit analysis of HS2 Phase 2A before the second reading of the High Speed Rail (West Midlands–Crewe) Bill in the House of Lords.

baroness vere of norbiton: The Department for Transport will periodically update the phase 2a cost estimate and business cases in line with the Government’s protocol for developing major projects. The HS2 Phase 2a Outline Business Case was published alongside the deposit of the Phase 2a hybrid Bill in July 2017. The Department intends to update the Phase 2a Business Case and cost estimate to inform the Full Business Case after the Phase 2a hybrid Bill achieves Royal Assent, this will include any updates to the cost benefit analysis.

Northern: Rolling Stock

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 12 July (HL16845), what assessment they have made of the legal implications of Pacer trains remaining in use on the Northern Rail network after 31 December; and what plans they have in place to ensure that any trains still in use after that date comply with regulations concerning accessibility and the discharge of toilet waste onto tracks.

baroness vere of norbiton: The Department is committed to introducing modern trains fit for the 21st century that improve passenger experience and are accessible for all. We are closely monitoring Northern’s progress on introducing new trains and upgrading existing fleets. This includes the fitting of tanks to cease the practice of emitting waste to the track. The provision of accessible trains is key to enabling accessible rail travel, and we will deal with any failure to deliver contractual obligations according to the normal processes under the terms of that franchise agreement.More than 1000 new services have now got new or refurbished-as-new trains in the North that will transform the journey experience for passengers.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

School Leaving: Employment

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to create more job opportunities for school leavers after Brexit.

lord duncan of springbank: We want to ensure our young people have the skills they need to do the well-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future. We are introducing T levels which will offer a high quality and rigorous technical alternative to academic education, backed by an extra half a billion pounds a year once they are fully up and running, and we are establishing National Colleges and Institutes of Technology to meet higher level technical skills needs. The Government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, is an ambitious blueprint for careers guidance for young people and adults. It sets out how the worlds of work and education can come together to support young people, backing the expansion of the Enterprise Adviser Network of senior business volunteers. This year, funding available for apprenticeships is over £2.5 billion; supporting employers to create apprenticeships for people of all ages, including young people leaving school. There are now over 470 high-quality apprenticeship standards to choose from. The UK labour market continues to perform strongly, with record levels of employment and record lows in unemployment. An estimated 3.7% of 16-17 year olds (approximately 51,000 young people) are not in education, employment or training (NEET) – this has fallen from 6.0% in 2010 (93,000 young people).

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

British Overseas Territories: Companies

lord blencathra: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any loss of financial business to UK Overseas Territories if they are the only financial centres of excellence in the world which will have publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​The UK has had a public register of company beneficial ownership since 2016 and the Government is spearheading an international campaign that seeks to make public registers the global norm by 2023, working with our international partners.The Crown Dependencies recently committed to implement their own publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership in line with EU norms and Gibraltar has passed legislation which will allow it to introduce publically accessible registers.The other Overseas Territory (OTs) Governments are working together, and with the UK Government, to ensure they remain in step with international standards on transparency. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is working with the OTs to determine the potential financial impact of implementing publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership.

South African Revenue Service: Bain and Company

lord hain: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 15 July (HL16912), what assessment Her Majesty's High Commissioner to South Africa has made of Bain and Company'sconsultancywork for the South African Revenue Service; and what recommendations, if any, he has made about its work for Her Majesty's Government.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​The British High Commission regularly reports to the Government on significant developments in South Africa, and is aware of the findings of the Nugent Commission on the work Bain & Company conducted for the South African Revenue Service. Assessments on the probity and quality of work on individual British Government contracts are undertaken on a department by department basis. A British Government department seeking bids for contracts covered by the Public Contracts Regulations would need to follow the rules on exclusions as defined within Regulation 57.

Somalia: Somaliland

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to work with international partners to re-open confidence-building dialogue between Somalia and Somaliland.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​The UK welcomes steps to build confidence between the authorities in Mogadishu and Hargeisa, and is ready to support any well-founded dialogue process. UK policy remains that it is for Somalia and Somaliland to agree any new arrangements, and for neighbours in the region to take the lead in recognising them. UK officials joined a number of international partners and representatives from Mogadishu and Hargeisa at a recent informal meeting organised by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Nairobi in June, which was aimed at encouraging progress.

British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty

lord ramsbotham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the cancellation of the High Commissioner to Mauritius' annual party to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's official birthday on reaching a settlement on the issues arising from the UN General Assembly resolution 73/295Advisoryopinion of the International Court of Justiceon the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 of 22 May which demanded that the UK "withdraw its colonial administration from the Chagos Archipelago unconditionally within a period of no more than six months from adoption of the present resolution."

lord ramsbotham: To ask Her Majesty's Government who authorised the cancellation of the High Commissioner to Mauritius' annual party to mark Her Majesty the Queen's official birthday on 4 June; and why that party was cancelled.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Queen's Birthday Parties are a celebration of Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday. They are an opportunity to celebrate the relationships between the UK and other countries.Coming so soon after the unjustified and incendiary remarks made about the UK by the Mauritian Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly, it would not have been appropriate to have held one this year. A decision to cancel Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday Party was taken at Ministerial level.We have no doubt about our sovereignty over British Indian Ocean Territory, which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814. We have made a long-standing commitment to cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. We stand by that commitment.

Attorney General

Prostitution: Prosecutions

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prosecutions of brothel owners or managers are (1) pending, and (2) completed, following the removal of women fromtheir premisesto Yarl's Wood and other detention centres.

lord keen of elie: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of prosecutions of defendants charged with offences of keeping a brothel or of controlling prostitution. This information could only be obtained by a manual examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.While the CPS does not collect data on defendants prosecuted by specific offence or the outcome of any prosecution, information is available for the number of offences concerning the keeping or management of brothels and controlling prostitution, in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ courts. The table below shows the number of these offences recorded on the CPS’s Case Management System in each financial year over the last ten years.  2008-20092009-20102010-20112011-20122012-20132013-20142014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018Sexual Offences Act 1956 { 33 }8339483531191928249Sexual Offences Act 1956 { 33A }1307010692543172756363Sexual Offences Act 2003 { 52 }171124191192513732Sexual Offences Act 2003 { 53 }93878761394958879264TOTAL323207265207135108174203186168Data Source: CPS Management Information System It should be noted that the figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.

Department for Education

Free School Meals: Immigrants

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer byBaroness Williams of Traffordon 23 July (HL Deb, cols 668–70), what plans they have to review access to free school meals for children who are affected by having no recourse to public funds.

lord agnew of oulton: As per the response provided by my noble Friend, Baroness Williams of Trafford, during the debate on 23 July, decisions around recourse to public funds are made by the Home Office. Free school meals are available to disadvantaged families in receipt of certain qualifying benefits, including children of immigrants and refugees who are receiving support under Part VI of the Immigration & Asylum Act (1999). The Home Office is able to exercise discretion to grant recourse to public funds where the family would otherwise be destitute. Where this entitles the family to receive certain benefits, they may also be able to claim free school meals.

Apprentices: Taxation

lord foster of bath: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to collate data on apprenticeship levy payments and spending by sector; and if not, why not.

lord agnew of oulton: The apprenticeship levy is collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from employers with a pay bill in excess of £3 million per year. HMRC publishes monthly data on apprenticeship levy receipts which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk. The most recent update was published on 19 July 2019. This update has been attached and can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817746/Jun19_Receipts_NS_Bulletin_Final.pdf.HMRC will continue to review the appropriate data to put into the public domain regarding the apprenticeship levy. The Education and Skills Funding Agency does not currently require levy-paying employers to register a sector when they set up an online apprenticeship service account to manage their funds. As we develop the apprenticeship service, we will continue to review the data we collect to improve user experience and outcomes. We already publish detailed data on apprenticeship starts, including levy-supported starts, and our engagement with employers and sector bodies to develop our understanding of how apprenticeships work for different sectors. The most recent update was published on 11 July 2019. All quarterly data releases include a main commentary which summarises apprenticeship starts by level, framework or standard, and whether or not they were levy-supported. This commentary has been attached and is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/815291/Apprenticeships_and_Traineeships_release_July19_main_text.pdf. The whole quarterly release is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-july-2019.



HL17457_June_Tax_Receipts
(PDF Document, 1.61 MB)




HL17457_Commentary
(PDF Document, 859.31 KB)

Breakfast Clubs

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the National School Breakfast Programme beyond 1 April 2020; and when any such decision will be (1) made, and (2) announced.

lord agnew of oulton: The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick-start and improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country – including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas – to help ensure every child gets the best start in life.A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the Breakfast Club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will fully review the effectiveness of the programme once the programme concludes, including the number of children attending. Decisions about any funding beyond March 2020 will be taken as part of the upcoming Spending Review.

Ministry of Justice

Women's Prisons: Death

baroness corston: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 8 July (HL16975), what process Her Majesty’s Prison Service uses to (1) record, (2) classify, and (3) centrally collect information about, any deaths of those imprisoned in women’s prisons.

baroness corston: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 10 July (HL16975), how many deaths occurred in (1) HMP Styal, and (2) HMP Peterborough, in (a) March, (b) April, and (c) May 2019; what was the cause of death in each case; and what steps they took to ensure that the earlier Written Answer was accurate.

lord keen of elie: All deaths in custody are reported to Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service within 24 hours. That report includes (among other things) the name of the deceased, the date they died, their gender, and a brief description of the circumstances of their death. Where possible the report will give a provisional cause of death. The prison is also obliged to report the death to the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman, to allow her investigation to begin, and all deaths in custody are the subject of an inquest. The cause of death may be updated later in light of the Ombudsman’s report and/or the coroner’s verdict. The answer to question 16975 gave figures taken from data that the Government published on 25 April 2019, covering deaths in custody up to the end of March. My officials have double-checked and I can confirm that those figures were correct. Data about deaths in custody can be inspected using the Deaths data tool at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018. As the question was about deaths during 2019, the causes of death are provisional and may be updated once the investigations outlined above have been concluded. The table below gives the number of deaths at HMP Styal and HMP Peterborough in March, April and May 2019.  HMP StyalHMP PeterboroughMarch 20191 (self-inflicted)-April 2019-1 (self-inflicted)May 20191 (self-inflicted)-

Belmarsh Prison

lord pearson of rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 4 July (HL16559), what proportion of the prison population of HMP Belmarsh identifies as Muslim; and how this compares to the average of the proportion of prisoners who identify as Muslim in other prisons in England and Wales.

lord keen of elie: HMP Belmarsh had a population of 826 on the 31st March 2019. On the same date there were 233 Prisoners at HMP Belmarsh who identified as Muslim, which represents 28.20% of the population. Available statistics for England and Wales ending 31st March 2019 showed an overall Prison Population of 82,634. Of that Population, a total of 13,008 Prisoners identified as Muslim, which represents 15.74% of the Prison Population.

Belmarsh Prison

lord pearson of rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners there are in HMP Belmarsh; and how many of those are serving sentences for civil offences.

lord keen of elie: HMP Belmarsh had a population of 826 on the 31st March 2019. On the same date there were 11 Prisoners at HMP Belmarsh who were serving sentences for Civil Offences, which represents 1.33% of the population.

Tommy Robinson

lord pearson of rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the process for reaching the decision that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon should be imprisoned in HMP Belmarsh; whether a Minister was responsible for that decision; and if so, who.

lord keen of elie: HMP Belmarsh located in South London operates as a Core Local Prison and is responsible for a number of Courts in the area. HMP Belmarsh receives Prisoners from the Central Criminal Court (CCC), Woolwich Crown Court, Bexley Magistrates Court and Greenwich Magistrates Court. As per Court Committal Directions, Mr Yaxley-Lennon, who appeared at the CCC, was allocated to HMP Belmarsh.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Oak Processionary Moth

lord framlingham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what instances of the importation of oak processionary moth on oak trees have occurred in the last 12 months.

lord gardiner of kimble: The unprecedented expansion of oak processionary moth (OPM) on the continent has led to intercepts of OPM on oak trees imported from ten nurseries in the Netherlands and one nursery in Germany (as at 19th July 2019). Swift action is being taken by the UK Plant Health Service to eradicate recent findings, including surveillance, tracing work and the destruction of caterpillars and infested trees. Emergency measures were introduced on 15th July to strengthen the import requirements for oak trees to reduce the risk of spread of this pest and protect the health of oak in the UK.

Oak Processionary Moth

lord framlingham: To ask Her Majesty's Government in how many locations, and on what dates, oak processionary moths have been identified in the UK.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Plant Health Service has intercepted oak processionary moth on oak trees at 58 sites within the UK Protected Zone (as at 25th July 2019). The infested oak trees have all been recently imported from the continent. The intercept sites are in the counties and regions of Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Cambridgeshire, County Durham, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Fife, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Invernesshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. Swift action is being taken to eradicate recent findings, including surveillance, tracing work and the destruction of caterpillars and infested trees. Emergency measures were introduced in England on 15th July to stop the import of mature oak trees, unless robust conditions are met, to prevent the further introduction of this pest and protect the health of oak in the UK.

Trees: Import Controls

lord framlingham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to an immediate and total ban on the import of (1) oak, and (2) olive, trees.

lord gardiner of kimble: Protecting our country from pests and diseases is vital to safeguarding our environment, economy and health. Globalisation in trade and increased travel means threats to plant health are increasing, but we have a strong response in place. Emergency measures were introduced in England on 15th July to stop the import of mature oak trees, unless robust conditions are met, to prevent the further introduction of this pest and protect the health of oak in the UK. When considering prevention of the spread of Xylella fastidiosa to the UK, we already have strict regulations in place. However, we review the risk situation continuously and are currently considering a range of options for olive trees, including a full ban on imports.

Home Office

Immigration: EU Nationals

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the status of the guidance issued on 3 April to all local authorities and health and social care trusts in regard to the EU Settlement Scheme and looked-after children and care leavers;and whether it is mandatory for local authorities to follow that guidance.

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence was collected on the children who were non-UK European nationals accommodated under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, their family situations and possible vulnerabilities, before drafting the guidance onEU Settlement Schemeand looked-after children and care leavers issued on 3 April.

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to evaluate the impact of the funding of support and its provision to vulnerable groups, including analysis of what future work is needed to ensure that vulnerable groups are able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme after funding ends in March 2020.

baroness williams of trafford: The guidance pack issued to local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland and to Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland on 3 April is not statutory guidance. The pack puts together in one place, information readily available on gov.uk to provide a useful tool for front line local authority and HSCT staff tasked with supporting looked after children and care leavers. The Children Act 1989 provides the legal framework for local authorities to promote the a child’s welfare and best interests, setting out statutory duties in relation to looked after children in England, with respective authorities for the devolved administrations. Statutory guidance is provided by DfE in relation to this. This statutory duty to promote best interests, coupled with funding provided to local authorities under a new burdens assessment should en-sure that this important work will be done.During a private trial phase of testing five local authorities were asked for detailed information on the children in their care eligible to apply to the EUSS, including what ID evidence they had access to and family situations in order to ascertain difficulties in obtaining identity documents.The participating local authorities, along with the seven other community organisations participating in the trial phase provided detailed feedback on challenges they encountered during the test phase, which was considered before drafting the guidance. The new burdens assessment takes into account work required to identify the cohort of eligible children as well as work needed to undertake the EUSS application process itself.Organisations awarded grant funding are required to submit monitoring reports to the Home Office and this content will be used to assess of the grant funding. Grant funded organisations will be reporting on the number of vulnerable people they have supported to make applications and this will assist in determining what future support is required after March 2020.

Visas: Africa

lord steel of aikwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of thejoint All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report by theAPPG for Africa, the APPG for Diaspora, Development and Migration and the APPG for MalawiVisa problems for African visitors to the UK, published on 16 July, in particular its findings in regard to the level of refusals of short-term visitor visa applications from Africa.

baroness williams of trafford: Officials will review the findings of the report and the Immigration Minister will respond on it in due course.Information on total entry clearance visas (the majority of which are visitor visas) broken down by nationality and outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_02_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019-data-tables

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Listed Events

lord storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include (1) the International Cricket Council CricketWorld Cup, and (2) women’s world cup sporting events in the list of listed sporting events.

baroness barran: The Cricket World Cup final, semi-finals and matches involving home nations’ teams are listed under Group B of the Listed Events Regime. Events listed in Group B may have live coverage on subscription television provided that secondary coverage is offered to qualifying broadcasters. Coverage of women’s professional sport on free to air television has improved significantly in the last ten years, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Euro Championships, Women’s Rugby World Cup, cycling and tennis being regular fixtures on the BBC and ITV. We know that more can be done to improve equality in sports broadcasting. That is why we have just announced our proposal to add the Paralympic Games to the list and we have started the statutory consultation process to do that. We are also considering the addition of women’s only sporting events where the equivalent men’s only tournaments are currently listed, which we plan to consult on later in the year. This is to give equal recognition to disabled and women’s sports.

Cultural Heritage: Sunderland

lord shipley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to preventing the demolition of the Doxford Gate, Pallion Quay, at Sunderland and preserving it as a monument to Sunderland's ship building heritage.

baroness barran: Sunderland has a history as an internationally significant centre for shipbuilding. However, such was the pace of change in the shipbuilding industry that few structures survived. Doxford Gate sits in the path of a new inner ring road which will link the city centre to a new bridge across the River Wear. The site has been considered for statutory protection by listing, but it does not meet the national criteria. It is unfortunate that it appears that the Doxford Gate cannot be preserved, but I am pleased to report that I understand it is intended to re-erect the historic iron gates from the entrance nearby as a memorial to the shipyard.